In England, is it okay to put offers on more than 1 house at a time?

moneyistooshorttomention

No.......................

gazter

It depends how much of a buyers market it is. An Estate Agent will have you down as a time waster if you put offers in on multiple properties and i would imagine counsel a competing offer to the seller.

ognum

I think for people buying in a slow market it is hard to understand how difficult it is to secure a property in some areas.

I don't think there is anything unethical, I have done this myself, I have always told the sellers EA that I am very interested in their property BUT I am also interested in others.

Many sellers hang around and hold onto offers in the hope they will be bettered by another if they understand that they need to make a quick choice then the situation is better all round.

As long as you are honest I can't see any problems!

Cuilean

From a seller's point of view, I can't tell you how annoyed my family were when a buyer did that to us. The buyer looked at a few in the village, put an offer on ours and also one on a cottage a few streets away. She viewed both through different agencies, and told both she'd not offered on anything else. At the time, we were with the little local agent, the agent she'd viewed the cottage through was one of the big chains of agents, who we were registered with as potential buyers in another branch where we hoped to view.

Unfortunately for her, someone clever in the big chain agency got wind of what she'd done and rang my agent. We rejected her offer, and the other seller also rejected her offer. Both agents flagged her as a time waster on their systems. They dislike buyers who carry out "Contract Races", taking the view that if they're prepared to play games like that, they're not going to be the most reliable or trustworthy purchaser.

We lost out on the house we were offering on, which was really disappointing for us, and we no doubt disappointed the people who we were prepared to buy from. Please think very hard about the morals of making multiple offers, and the affect you'll have on everyone else if it goes wrong

ognum

Cuilean wrote: »

From a seller's point of view, I can't tell you how annoyed my family were when a buyer did that to us. The buyer looked at a few in the village, put an offer on ours and also one on a cottage a few streets away. She viewed both through different agencies, and told both she'd not offered on anything else. At the time, we were with the little local agent, the agent she'd viewed the cottage through was one of the big chains of agents, who we were registered with as potential buyers in another branch where we hoped to view.

Unfortunately for her, someone clever in the big chain agency got wind of what she'd done and rang my agent. We rejected her offer, and the other seller also rejected her offer. Both agents flagged her as a time waster on their systems. They dislike buyers who carry out "Contract Races", taking the view that if they're prepared to play games like that, they're not going to be the most reliable or trustworthy purchaser.

We lost out on the house we were offering on, which was really disappointing for us, and we no doubt disappointed the people who we were prepared to buy from. Please think very hard about the morals of making multiple offers, and the affect you'll have on everyone else if it goes wrong

But how would you have felt if the buyer had said to you I am offering on your house and another, if you accept my offer I will withdraw my other offer, that is what I am suggesting.

I am not suggesting that if an offer is accepted you carry on to solicitors and contract on both.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I don't think it's immoral in the slightest. Hedge your bets, make your offers, just be quick about making your mind up if any offers get accepted and don't leave the sellers hanging.

Once you've made your decision, stick to it. Don't expect the sellers to take the house off the market until you've shown a commitment to buying.

TheCyclingProgrammer

jaylee3 wrote: »

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Also, be careful, in case there are charges/fines/penalties for dropping out after you have made an offer.

Nothing to worry about. There are no such financial penalties (in England/Wales at least).

theartfullodger

Yeah, go ahead: You can buy as many houses as you like, one at a time or several each week: How nice to have the budget to buy more than one!

cte1111

I genuinely am struggling with the stance that this is immoral.

Cuilean - how on earth is it this potential buyer's fault that you were unable to buy the house you wanted? You chose to turn down her offer, that's your prerogative absolutely but maybe if you hadn't then she would have bought it, you would have bought your dream home and everyone would have been happy?

We are specifically talking about viewing several properties, alongside other people, and putting in offers on more than one, in the expectation that most if not all will be turned down. If more than one offer is accepted, then it's time to make the choice which is the best for you, much like when sellers receive multiple offers, they take a judgement call as to which is the best for them.

When I bought my first house, the sellers had 2 full asking price offers already on the table. I also offered the full asking price and was eventually accepted, owing to my first time buyer status. Are you saying that was immoral of them? Had I done the previous potential buyers the chance of their dream home? Possibly so, but that's how our long drawn out property selling process works, it takes ages, nothing is certain until the last minute. Not ideal but we all have to accept it or make the choice to lobby our politicians for changes to the system.

Cuilean

ognum wrote: »

But how would you have felt if the buyer had said to you I am offering on your house and another, if you accept my offer I will withdraw my other offer, that is what I am suggesting.

I am not suggesting that if an offer is accepted you carry on to solicitors and contract on both.

TBH, I would have spoken to my agent and asked their advice. I had never come across the situation before, and I've been involved in a good few house purchases from the wilds of Scotland to southern England. Whether your theory was the buyer's intention when she made more than one offer, we will never know. While I quite agree she did nothing illegal, it was naughty and inconsiderate, neither of which are punishable offences, and so life goes on